09/15/2026
Construction endeavors have a way of encountering unforeseen complications: mystery pipes, buried treasure, keys you lost two weeks ago. Another is realizing you accidentally want to do something that may go through, over, under, or lecherously adjacent to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works project.
If that happens, well, you'll meet Section 408.
Section 408 comes from the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, meaning it's been around since William McKinley was president, and it was codified in 33 U.S. Code 408. In a nutshell, it says anyone proposing to alter, modify, or use any part of a USACE civil works project, it needs USACE's say-so before continuing.
That can include:
- running a water main, utility or pipeline through a levee or other Corps project
- adding hydropower to a dam
- building a bridge across a navigable waterway maintained and surveyed by USACE
- modifying a levee or flood-risk-management project or even building something within a USACE project easement
So under the right circumstances, even installing a swimming pool can become a federal infrastructure issue.
Before approving a request, USACE has to determine that the proposal will not impair the usefulness of the project or be injurious to the public interest. Depending on the work, that can involve engineering, environmental and cultural-resource reviews.
So, Section 408, in essence: you can maybe alter the thing, you can possibly build around the thing, but first we need to make sure the original thing will still do the thing and are OK with it.
